Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 64
अलक्तको यथा रक्तो नरः कामी तथैव च । हृतसारस्तथा सोऽपि पादमूले निपा त्यते
alaktako yathā rakto naraḥ kāmī tathaiva ca | hṛtasārastathā so'pi pādamūle nipā tyate
De même qu’un homme paraît rouge lorsqu’il est enduit de laque, ainsi l’homme mû par la concupiscence est « teint » par le désir. Son essence intérieure dérobée, il tombe aux pieds mêmes de cette passion, rabaissé.
Unspecified (Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya narrator voice; likely a Purāṇic teacher addressing a listener)
Scene: A man smeared with red lac appears ‘colored’; beside him, the same figure is shown internally hollowed—his ‘essence’ slipping away—falling at the feet of a personified Passion.
FAQs
Desire ‘colors’ the mind and steals inner strength, leading to humiliation and spiritual fall; detachment is urged.
This verse functions as moral instruction within the Tīrthamāhātmya flow; no single tīrtha is explicitly named in the line itself.
No explicit ritual is prescribed; it is a warning meant to support tīrtha practice with self-control.